The Town of Sylvan Lake is taking another look at its fire hall plans after all construction tenders came in over budget.
Eight companies bid on the nearly $5.1-million project to build a new fire hall for the community.
However, only six bids met requirements and the lowest of those came in $237,110 over the construction estimate, which includes a five per cent contingency.
Council debated whether to boost the budget or tweak the project and re-tender in hopes of attracting lower bids.
Mayor Sean McIntyre said council decided at its Monday meeting to change the scope of the project.
“Staff is going to come back with its recommendations on which elements of scope we ought to change,” he said on Tuesday.
A few options are available, including the town taking on some of the work such as landscaping, or taking out the paving component of the project to be overseen separately.
Staff also suggested that delaying the fire hall until a new Multiplex is tendered could draw additional bidders and result in more competitive pricing.
“That’s a possibility. We’re really looking at all avenues as far as cost savings on this project,” said the mayor.
The fire hall was originally scheduled to be ready sometime next year, but depending on how tendering goes, it could be delayed until 2016.